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Published: August 7th 2006
EEEK!! Elephants!
I was never a huge elephant lover. I didn't have anything against them, just didn't get it...until now. Big, yet so graceful. We stood about 10 feet away on the other side of a watering hole. We were surrounded by moles. They advanced, teeth bared, snarling, Eric screamed.....
You've probably guessed that Mole was not a park dedicated to our scurrying underground cousins, instead it was a brilliant park filled with elephants, antelopes, monkeys, baboons, warthogs and irridescent birds.
We stayed at the Mole ('mole-ay') Motel. This was a fascinating place. It is perched on a cliff above a primeval savannah landscape that disappears vastly over the horizon. Directly at the base of the cliff are two watering holes, at which all the many creatures gather. One morning, 15 elephants went for a swim in one of the pools for a couple of hours. They were platfully dunking one another and clashing their tusks. What a sight!
All the animals come wandering through the hotel grounds; there are constant streams of warthogs munching the grass on their knees outside the rooms, four elephants strolled up ten yards from the restuarant one afternoon and munched on trees. One morning, I followed a small group of monkeys after they strolled past the pool to a tree, where they let me sit with them for an hour, before the old male made a sound that produced an instant response from
Mother and child
We weren't the only one's hanging out at Mole. They look cute here, just as long as they don't see you with food. Mike became known as the baboon king as he stalked them for miles around. He chased them off with a stick he called "club". We all felt safer with him on the job! the whole group and they walked down the steep green slope to the woodland below. We went on a number of walking safaris down the cliff, around the lakes and into the wilderness area. Hot as Hades, but fabulous good fun. I rented some green wellies for the last walk having finally learnt that swamps tend to be wet.
The funniest creatures were also at times the scariest - anubis or olive baboons who travel in groups of about 100, right through the hotel and grounds, and when they come the large adult males rob unsuspecting pool bound tourists of their goodies. Eric was outsmarted twice by these buggers, once at the cost of a pack of digestive biscuits, once for a bag of sweetened peanuts one hour later by the same baboon who then sat cheekily not three feet from him and ate the whole pack! Sometimes they launched mass cordinated raids breaking teapots, stealing sugar cubes, and I swear, laughing as they run away.
The end of the official three hour safari each day was just the beginning of our safari encounters. After three or four days we were totally used to sharing our lawn with warthogs, monkeys, baboons, and elephants. Once again we've met a boatload of interesting fellow tourists, mostly brits and yanks and are having a whale of a time.
All good things must pass, so we left on the only bus back to Tamale leaving Mole at 4am!! From here it's north now to french speaking world.
oh mon deiu.(Eric just censored what I wanted to write in my obviously immaculate french)
more photos soon
love eric and mike
messages: Thanks to all who wrote. Nice to hear from Kylie, Bailey and Izzie.
Tony: when it rains it pours, eh?
Suze/Gia: Six feet! Oh my lord.
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Auntie Donna
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Now this would be the part of the trip I dream of!
Hi Guys good to hear from you again. Wow that must have been just awesome. Something I have always dreamed of doing. I can't wait to see pictures. Any lions and yes those things Eric that you know I just love(ha)? Keep on enjoying and stay safe. Looking forward to hearing from you again. Love Auntie Donna, Mich and Nick